Rant- Crazy Driver
This morning I am going to talk about something I think you will all understand. It’s just something that frustrates me, especially as a business owner.
I was driving on I-95 south in Providence this morning, headed to Cranston to go to my local Whole Foods. I was in the far right lane because my exit was about a mile and a half away. In my rear view mirror, I saw a white Jeep behind me, speeding, passing people on the right, weaving in and out of lanes. The driver (a woman) got up right behind me and got on my ass. Then she passed me on the left to swerve in front of me. She gave me a nasty look as she did it. As she did all this passing and swerving, she was not using a turn signal. Also, I was doing over the speed limit already (60 in a 55) and she flew right by me.
As she passed me, I could see that she had the name of a business, with a phone number and web site, in big letters on her back window. She then passed someone else on the right, and pulled off on the same exit I was going on (I think she got there a whopping 5 seconds before I did).
What gets me is… why are you driving like such an asshole with your business name (or someone else’s business name if you’re doing it for a friend) on the back? To me, it was a totally stupid thing to do. It doesn’t matter if you are late or in a hurry. You make yourself, and your business, look bad.
To me, every single person I encounter is a potential customer, a friend of a customer, a spouse of a customer, etc. You make an impression to every single person you encounter, whether you realize it or not. You are always on, always. Especially if you spent the time and the money to advertise your business on the back of your car.
Now the name of that business is associated in my head with a bad driver who doesn’t give a crap about the cars around her, the safety of per passenger, or the speed limit. All the driver did was advertise that she was a jerk. I feel the same way about moving companies, lawn care guys, etc. that drive like total morons.
Most mornings I see the same paving guy run a red light in my neighborhood. He has his business advertised on his trucks. But he always gets to this red light and then drives right through if no one else is coming. If you can’t bother to stop for a red light, then how in the world can I trust you to do a decent job on my driveway? If you’re going to cut corners on the road, then to me you’re going to cut corners on your work.
What do you think?
